Topic
“Leadership for a Growth Mindset Culture”
Abstract
Strategy and Culture are the main levers, which top leaders use to maintain their organizational effectiveness. Strategy offers formal logic for the company’s goals and helps align people to those goals. Culture is the expression of these goals through values and believes and directs people’s productivity.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Peter Drucker
Growth mindset is the concept that our character, intelligence and skills can be developed through intention, dedication, efforts and support from others. The Fixed mindset suggests that our talents and intelligence are simply fixed traits. And if this was the case, what is then the point of working hard or asking for help?
According to Dweck’s research, when companies adopt growth mindset, the managers start to see much more potential in their employees. On the other hand, in companies with fixed mindset usually there are only a few ‘star’ employees that take all the credit. Dweck finds too, that in the companies with growth mindset, the employees are:
- 47% likelier to see their colleagues as trustworthy
- 34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company
- 65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking and
- 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation
…compared to employees in fixed mindset companies.
Needless to say that such indicators for employee engagement are also related to higher financial returns, while the cultures itself serves as a tool for attracting new employees. With growth mindset people are willing to take on new challenges, they strive to learn, they see their own potential and that of others, and know that they can develop new skills.
Professional Background
Gergana Markova is a personal and business effectiveness consultant and trainer with more than 22-year experience. She helps the managers’ teams of middle and big companies to build unbeatable leadership and high efficiency skills. She has studied different systems of leadership and personal development, including the development of thinking by well-known authors and consultants. Professional trainer and certified coach. Expert in the following areas: effective leadership; effective communication; time and goals management; stress management; motivation; influence skills; sales; team efficiency and more. Many of the more than 15 000 hours of training have been aimed at increasing the efficiency of company employees, building an approach to developing and retaining top talents in organizations, and improving the interaction of companies with their counterparts and partners.